


The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

by StarlightXNightmare



Series: Septic Egos [41]
Category: Video Blogging RPF, jacksepticeye
Genre: Children, Cute Kids, Gift Giving, Mentions of alcohol, Mostly Fluff, Post-Divorce, Stacy and Chase are actually friendly to each other, Swearing, little to no angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-17 22:58:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16983408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlightXNightmare/pseuds/StarlightXNightmare
Summary: Chase gets an unexpected early Christmas gift.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A gift to the beautiful bean, Boop!!! (This was supposed to be a short one shot but I got inspired, so this will have a few parts!!!)

The call came on the Thursday before Christmas.

Chase had his hand wrapped around the neck of some half finished whiskey bottle, ready to drown himself in the amber liquid when his cell phone buzzed on the table. He figured it was one of his brothers calling to check up on him, but that didn’t stop him from flipping his cracked phone (he thought the screen survived the collision with the wall but apparently not) over and checking the caller ID. It wasn’t one of his brothers.

He abandoned the bottle, letting it fall to the ground and lunged for the phone, trying to get a hold of it before it rang out like he normally let it. There was only one reason she’d be calling him and like hell he was going to let it ring out and go straight to voicemail like usual.

He cleared his voice, hoping to hide the fact he’d been crying (and hungover) before accepting the call. “Hey, Stacy. What’s up?”

She sighed heavily. “Hello, Chase. I tried calling you last night but you weren’t picking up.”

He frowned, not remembering seeing any missed calls. Then again he rarely ever checked his phone anymore. “Huh… must’ve been sleeping already.” He didn’t think he should mention he was most likely passed out drunk by then. Though with his luck, she already had deduced that.

“I digress: I wanted to tell you that you get the kids on Christmas.”

Those were the words that turned his brain off. He heard the words yet it seemed as if they went in one ear and out the next. His brain refused to latch onto and process them. “Ummm…”

“Chase? Aren’t you excited? I thought you’d be happy about this arrangement.”

"Wait, what? No, I am, I am!” He fumbled for the right words, struggling to keep her from taking back her words. “I just mean… why? I thought you wanted the kids on holidays?”

“They’ve been complaining all month about not being able to see you. And you still haven’t gotten all your time with them that the court scheduled. Besides I get to see them all the time and you… you don’t.”

Deep breath in. Alright… he could do this. Just… stay cool. “So when is this happening? Am I picking the little monsters up or are you dropping them off?”

Stacy sighed again and he could practically see her rubbing her temple with her free hand. “Chase, do not call our children “little monsters.””

“But that’s my go-to nickname! It’s not like I actually mean it. We both know they’re angels.” He counted the “our children” part as a win. 

“Except for the time they colored on the walls.”

“To be fair, I helped with that.”

“You what?” She asked, more bewildered and confused than anything.

“Nothing,” he blurted, face red with embarrassment. He couldn’t believe he just admitted to the thing they all pinky promised to keep secret.

Another sigh. “I’ll be dropping them off tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow!?” He yanked the phone away from his ear and swore softly, casting a nervous glance around his apartment.

“Yes, “tomorrow”. Is that a problem?” She asked and he could almost hear her foot tapping. It was like she knew.

“Nope, not at all.” He said too quickly. “Just surprised. That seems very late notice.”

“Well, it is. I apologize for any inconvenience.”

“Oh, that’s cool. Nothing wrong there.”

There was a long moment of awkward silence.

“Well, I better let you go,” Chase said slowly. “Don’t want to take up too much of your time.”

“Yes, that’s a good idea.” Another brief pause. “Goodbye. See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow. Lo—... Bye.” Humiliation burned throughout his face to the tips of his ears, and he buried his head in his hands after hanging up with a groan. He couldn’t believe he nearly said “love you.” Old habits die hard he supposed.

After getting over his initial embarrassment, he took a deep breath in and removed his hands from his face. He couldn’t believe it. He was getting the kids for Christmas. He was getting exactly what he’s wanted for the past few months—to see his kids. He was going to see little Sammy and (well, not so little) Trey. He was going to hear their voices and see their smiles and spend the next few days with them. He’d get to hear about their days and spoil them rotten.

Those thoughts halted however when he realized what that meant.

“Oh…  _ fuck.” _

He needed to clean up and go shopping—fast.


	2. Chapter 2

Chase cleaned for the first time in weeks—maybe even months. (Everything just kind of blurred together after awhile of doing the same things every day.) Schneep always was baffled at how he could live in such a “pigsty” as he’d call it. He often talked about having a clean living space helped you have a less stressed mind, how it was scientifically proven, yada yada yada. Yeah, well, Chase seriously doubted that cleaning his apartment would solve his anxiety and depression. Sounded like witchcraft. He honestly couldn’t care less about how clean it was for him since he rarely left his room.

Since he never cleaned, he lacked a lot of cleaning solutions and utensils which meant he had to get creative. Fun. 

A month’s worth of pizza boxes, take out cartons, and napkins were swept off every smooth surface. Countless empty bottles that used to hold alcohol were tossed into a separate bin. He wiped down every surface with a wet washcloth, used hand soap to desperately scrub out alcohol and vomit stains on the couch and carpet, picked up trash and crumbs with his bare hands, and stashed all his alcohol in the highest cupboard. He scoured every inch of his apartment for broken glass, scooping it up into his palms carelessly and dumping it in the trash bin. He locked his pistol away with his alcohol and shoved his lighter into his pocket.

Next step was looking somewhat presentable himself. He showered for the first time in a week (god he fucking  _ reeked _ ), shaved off most the beard that had grown in, and scavenged for decent clothes, throwing dirty ones aside to locate possible options. And… most his clothes were dirty…  _ great _ .

After his trip to the apartment basement and waiting for his laundry, he checked his fridge for food that he found suitable to give his kids and found… nothing but a gallon of unopened spoiled milk. Okay, ew, gross.

While at the store shopping for food, he ended up buying a few more gifts for his kids. Y’know… from Santa. God he hoped neither of their interests had changed from the last time he’d seen them. The amount of things he bought hurt his budget pretty badly but it’s fine. He didn’t eat too much anyway and laying off the alcohol would be for the best.

He outright groaned like a child when he realized he had to clean his room as well. (The two would have to sleep in there considering he had no guest room and he’d destroy his back on the couch.) There was only one pair of sheets so he put off washing them, opting to instead pull out a few extra blankets and threw them onto the bed. Belatedly, he realized why he never put away his laundry. It was so damn tedious! Why put away things you were just gonna wear later?

He’d gotten more done in a single day than in an entire month—maybe more. It was… kind of sad actually. Though he supposed it was because there was an incentive he actually cared about.

Now came the hard part: waiting.

 


	3. Chapter 3

The next day when there was a knock on the door, Chase threw himself off his spot on the couch to get to the door. Unlocking the door with a wide grin he greeted his kids.

“Daddy!” Samantha squealed, running towards him with her arms outstretched.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he said, picking up little Sammy and spinning her around before setting her on his hip like she were a toddler again. Giving her a quick peck on the forehead, he asked, “How’s my little monster doing?”

“Good! School’s out now and we went to the movies last night and—” As she rambled on, Chase nodding along every now and then to assure he was still listening, he took the moment to ruffle his son’s hair.

“How’re you doing, kiddo?” He asked softly. 

Trey shrugged, humming briefly. He was smiling.

“Chase,” Stacy said amicably. “Good to see you.”

He couldn’t tell if she meant it but she was smiling at the kids’ reactions to seeing him, so he must’ve done something right. Cool.

He nodded awkwardly, “Good to see you too.” 

Samantha tugged on his overgrown hair with a whine, demanding to be heard and he winced at the short burst of pain. He really needed a haircut soon.

“Just a minute, june bug.”

Stacy clucked her tongue in displeasure. “Sammy, don’t tug on people’s hair. It’s rude.”

She pouted. “Sorry.”

“S’okay,” he said, patting her head gently.

“I’ll be picking them up on Wednesday, so we can go see my family.”

That gave him the rest of today, four days, and part of Wednesday with them. He couldn’t remember the last time he got so much time at once with them.

He nodded. “Yeah, that’s cool. What time?”

“Sometime around noon.”

Trey slipped past him as they chatted, setting his bag down next to the couch and plopping down.

“I’ll leave you to it then. You two better behave for your dad.”

“Bye, mommy!” Sam said, waving as Chase laughed at the command.

“They won’t cause any trouble. See you Wednesday.”

As he was closing the door, Sammy chirped, “Oh, oh, oh! Dad, I made something for you! It’s for the tree!”

A ball ornament she had clasped in her tiny hand was thrust to him. The ornament had a clumsily painted snowman on it, stick arms too big for its body and carrot nose too high up for its face, eyes abnormally big and scarf trailing to the ground. It looked childish, goofy, and as imperfect as it gets and he loved it. It made his chest warm that Sammy chose to give it to him this year (schools didn’t really account for divorced parents with the gift making process).

“Awww, it’s beautiful, kiddo. But I don’t have a tree.” He’d totally forgotten about a tree. “But I do know where to hang it.”

With a piece of scotch tape he taped the wire to the top of the kitchen doorway, letting the ornament dangle in the air.

“It looks silly!” Sammy laughed.

“Sure does! Hey, how about you get a juice box from the fridge? You gotta be thirsty from all that talking,” he teased. At the mention of the beverage, she shot off to the kitchen.

Chase turned to Trey, who had been silent throughout the entire interaction and spread his arms out. The older kid got up out of his spot and walked over, latching onto him, face buried in his chest.

“I missed you,” he mumbled into his shirt, sniffling, fingers tightening their hold on the bunches of fabric in the back.

“I missed you too, buddy,” Chase said softly, rubbing soothing circles on his back. After a moment of silence, he asked, ”You wanna play a game?”

Trey nodded. “What do you have?”

“I’m not sure off the top of my head. We can go look though.”

“Let’s go then.”

And just like that, Chase was onto his way to a very merry Christmas.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it <3


End file.
